


silver and gold, how they shimmer, on ev'ry winter night

by girlsarewolves



Series: exchanges [49]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Easter Eggs, F/F, Gift Giving, Paganism, Pets, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Werewolves, Winter Solstice, Yule, briefly implied one-sided Oliver/Kara
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:27:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28058400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlsarewolves/pseuds/girlsarewolves
Summary: It's Winter Solstice, and Laurel has a few surprises up her sleeves for her werewolf girlfriend.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Earth-2 Laurel Lance
Series: exchanges [49]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1269893
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2
Collections: Writing Rainbow Silver





	silver and gold, how they shimmer, on ev'ry winter night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [VampirePaladin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/VampirePaladin/gifts).



> I myself am not Pagan/a witch, so when I got the idea to include Yule in here and Laurel being Pagan, I did talk with someone who practices a similar faith and researched aspects included, but if there are any glaring issues or if the subject matter is handled insensitively in any way, please let me know! I hope you enjoy!

* * *

“Mrow.”

“Hush, Felicia. Kara needs sleep, and I still need to finish wrapping presents.” Laurel slowly and carefully slid out of the bed she and Kara shared. Every few movements she glanced at her lover to make sure the other woman was still sleeping soundly, relieved each time to find Kara still asleep.

Really, she knew she didn’t have to worry - Kara always passed out for a good five to eight hours after a full moon. Laurel usually found it almost pitiful how much the change drained Kara, but today it was a blessing.

Felicia let out another soft sound that conveyed irritation before hopping off the bed and following Laurel out of the bedroom. The black cat put that whole ‘cats hating dogs’ theory to the test, considering she was Laurel’s pet but adored Kara most of all.

“Brat,” Laurel muttered as she padded into the kitchen. 

Said brat leapt up onto the counter, rubbing against Laurel’s arms and purring as she watched her witch put her food into a bowl. The narrow-eyed look up smug pleasure on her face made it clear she knew exactly what she was - and that Laurel and Kara would let her get away with it, too.

After feeding Felicia and having a quick bite to eat herself, Laurel crept to the spare room where she’d hidden Kara’s presents. While the gifts Kara had gotten for her were already wrapped and nestled under the tree, Laurel waited until the actual morning of Winter Solstice to wrap her girlfriend’s presents as said girlfriend had a very bad habit of snooping and trying to peek and sniff out what she’d gotten. Every year, Laurel had a friend keep the presents until the day before, and would somehow find a way to sneak them in and to the spare room’s closet, then make herself get up first to quickly wrap and tuck them underneath their tree before Kara woke.

It was a _lot_ harder than it sounded, especially in previous years. Fortunately, this time around the full moon landed just before Winter Solstice, and her normally light-sleeping girlfriend was passed out for a couple more hours at least.

Felicia looked sorrowfully at the bedroom door, lamenting that fact.

“Oh, get over it, she’ll be up soon.” Laurel sat near the tree, surrounded by wrapping supplies and the gifts she’d gotten throughout the year. “Come here, pretend you’re a familiar, and help me wrap.” 

_“Mrow.”_

The narrow-eyed look Felicia was giving her now was one of pure annoyance. Sometimes it felt like she actually _was_ a familiar, not a normal black cat Laurel had adopted from the local shelter. 

Kara had been the one to start the joke - even though Laurel had yet to take the full leap into witchcraft. She’d been Norse pagan for years now, finding comfort in it after losing her father. Maybe she just had felt less judged than other religions she’d come into contact had always left her feeling. Her mother had been a lapsed Catholic and had nearly had an aneurysm when Laurel had come out - though maybe it was because she dropped the Pagan and bisexual bombshells all at once - and Laurel suspected that was why even though she’d confessed to Kara being interested in witchcraft, she was still hesitating.

Still, the familiar joke was inevitable, and fitting with how aware Felicia always seemed to be.

After roughly a half hour - with Felicia supervising, as anything else was beneath her, obviously - Laurel had all of Kara’s presents wrapped and settled amongst Laurel’s. And a few for Felicia, too.

To most, their festively decorated apartment and tree looked like a traditional Christmas set up, if perhaps clearly secular with no sign of mangers or or angels or jolly red men anywhere to be found. But for Laurel and Kara, it was years of finding decor that they both loved and filled them with their joy and spirit of Yule, of the Winter Solstice. Of the cold embrace of winter woods and ancient customs near forgotten.

It felt like fate that Laurel had found a werewolf for her partner, one who had heard tales of the old ways passed down, changed from mouth to mouth but still powerful and important. 

Laurel’s eyes fell on one particular gift she’d wrapped - the last one, and in many ways one that was more for her than Kara, but she knew her lover would understand the meaning.

“Mrow?”

“By the gods, you are impatient,” Laurel huffed with a long-suffering sigh before shaking her head with a bemused smile and picking Felicia up for reluctant snuggles. “Yes, come on, let’s get Kara.” She let Felicia go before rising to her feet and following after the cat who ran to the bedroom door, pawing at it insistently and letting out bossy chirps as Laurel trailed too far behind for her liking. Laurel snorted as the black cat shoved her way in as soon as the door was open enough for her to slink through.

Kara had twisted onto her back, taking blankets and sheets with her so that everything was a tangled mess around her. The hazy light of the snowy afternoon filtered through the windows, lighting up her face and golden hair.

Laurel felt warm flood her at the sight, and ridiculously sappy lines like ‘you’re the only angel I need for the holidays’ fluttered through her mind. Damn, she really was a sap deep down.

Felicia hopped up onto the bed again and paced over Kara, meowing and chirping in her face. She took to pawing when that barely got a muffled groan out of her favorite person.

“Kara, it’s Winter Solstice. Do you want your Yule gifts?”

That got her girlfriend’s attention, and the werewolf’s eyes snapped open, her torso bolting upright and sending Felicia tumbling back onto Kara’s lap with an offending chirp and a swipe at some loose strands hanging down Kara’s chest. Kara blinked a few times, paying the cat no mind and absently scratching behind her eyes which had her settled immediately. “How long have I been out?”

“Seven hours. Everything is wrapped and ready,” Laurel laughed. She loved how much of a kid Kara was on this day. She sat down next to her girlfriend, leaning in and kissing her temple. “It’s a little after one. You needed your sleep. And I did, too. Come on. I’ll get that steak out for you. You need to eat before we get to the presents.”

“Aw, come on, I ate when I got home,” Kara whined, picking Felicia up as she kicked out of the tangle of sheets and blanket.

“Not nearly enough, and that was hours ago. You need more protein.”

“Fine, _Mom_ ,” she only half-jokingly pouted.

Laurel smirked and gave Kara a quick peck on the cheek. “Did I mention it’s snowing?”

Kara’s face lit up with delight, and she took a real look outside their window to find it was indeed snowing, and had been for quite some time based on how thick the blanket of white was over everything. “Oh, it’s perfect! I thought they said it wouldn’t snow till the 24th?” She hopped out of the bed, still holding Felicia who purred happily at getting attention from her beloved werewolf.

“Yeah, but you know the weather, they’re wrong all the time.” Laurel slid off the bed and came up behind Kara, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend’s waist and resting her chin on Kara’s shoulder, watching the winter display with her. “Maybe it’s a blessing. Tonight you can run through the snow.”

“It’s been so long since I got that at the Solstice,” Kara whispered, grinning from ear to ear when she twisted her head around to kiss Laurel’s temple. “You should come. You can ride me,” she stated suggestively, waggling her eyebrows at the double entendre. 

“I cannot with you,” Laurel snorted, but closed her eyes and sighed as Kara nuzzled her face to Laurel’s. “Come on. Time to eat. You can admire while you chow down.” She reluctantly pulled away from her girlfriend and led Kara to the kitchen, retrieving the large, raw steak she’d bought in preparation for today from the fridge. She gave Felicia a hard look. “Don’t you get any bright ideas, this is all for Kara.”

“Mrow.”

“Don’t play innocent, we all know that’s a crock of shit.”

“Laurel!” Kara kissed the top of Felicia’s head, even as she tried to stifle her giggles. “Play nice. It’s Yule.” 

“I’m just stating facts.”

_“Mrow.”_

Kara made quick work of the steak while Felicia weaved back and forth around her feet, meowing for scraps that she definitely wasn’t getting from the still famished werewolf. Laurel got mugs down and ready for hot cocoa that they could sip on after the gift giving was done, while watching bad Hallmark movies and the snow come down. Once Kara was done, and Laurel had everything set up and ready for them after gifts, they settled over by the tree.

A sulky Felicia ignored them and hopped up to her bed atop her cat tree.

“So, who hid the presents for you this year?” Kara asked, selecting one of the gifts she’d wrapped for Laurel and handing it over.

“Helena. She’s good at keeping secrets, and you’re barely around her without me,” Laurel stated with a pointed look as she took the offered present.

Kara had the decency to give an apologetic shrug, cheeks pink. They both knew Laurel was referring to the year she’d asked Oliver to hold Kara’s presents, and Kara had questioned him, knowing he was absolutely lousy at lying to her. They both had a theory he had a thing for Kara he’d never in a million years admit to.

Laurel softened quickly, though, not nearly as annoyed about it as she pretended to be. She handed one of the gifts she’d wrapped earlier over to Kara, and the two of them unwrapped at the same time. It was the same tradition each year, neither of them crazy about that weird pressure felt when someone watched you unwrap a present. They went through their gifts, thanking the other for each one. Every present was a welcome one that spoke of how well they knew their partner, and finally they came to the last one that wasn’t for Felicia.

Laurel swallowed and handed it to Kara. “Technically, it’s for both of us. Sort of. Um...you’ll get it when you open it,” she awkwardly explained before standing and going to grab their sulking but curious cat from her perch high above where she had watched the entire exchange.

By the time Laurel and Felicia were sitting across from Kara, the book was unwrapped and in Kara’s hands, a soft, unreadable expression on her face.

For a moment, Laurel wondered if this had been a miscalculation on her part, one that would feel hollow and selfish in Kara’s eyes. But then her girlfriend looked up at her and smiled, misty-eyed.

“Are you sure this is what you want?”

Laurel took a breath, aware that even Felicia was watching her now. “I am. And I’m finally ready. And a big part of that has been you and your support.” Laurel set Felicia down by the two presents still under the tree, and took the book, fingers brushing over the letters adorning the cover. “You’ve given me the courage to accept the fact that I want to be a witch.”

For a moment they were quiet, Laurel staring at the book for beginner witches, Felicia idly looking back and forth between them, and Kara watching Laurel. And then Kara was sitting beside Laurel, hugging her close and kissing her temple, her cheek, nuzzling their faces together as she let out a delighted cry. 

“I’m so proud of you. And I always want you to find yourself, whatever journey that may lead you on.”

Laurel smiled and sank into her girlfriend, soaking up the werewolf’s warmth and joy. She’d struggled through drugs, stealing, working in gangs, fighting off the hungry gnawing of wanting blood for what had happened to her father, constantly buckling under the need for acceptance that she’d lost with him. With Kara, there was no condemnation, no conditions to her love, no push to be someone that Laurel knew she couldn’t be. Only to find who she really was. And accept that person, sins and all.

“Blessed Yule, Kara.”

“Blessed Yule, Laurel.”

“Mrow.”

**Author's Note:**

> yes, I did take and edit that title from the Silver and Gold Burl Ives song, and no it doesn't quite fit, but I got that in my head and went with it, lol.


End file.
